Friday, October 12, 2007

I Think I've Pinpointed Why The Office Is No Longer Funny

The Office, Season 4, Episode 3

Everyone on the show acts like a complete unlikeable idiot doing things that no one in the real world does, except for Jim and Pam and frankly they're just not interesting anymore. And Toby. But I'm not even sure he's on the show anymore. My guess is that Paul Lieberstein recognized that this is a sinking ship and bailed.

Back to the point though. Whereas previously Michael Scott was oblivious to the rest of the world and was surrounded by normal people trying to deal with his insanity, through three episodes this season everyone is over the top and stupid. I can only assume that the writers thought, "Hey, if one person being a moron is good, ten people being morons is great." False! Ten people being morons is The Bachelor or the second season of The Apprentice or the New York Knicks and no one wants to see that.

2 comments:

I think perhaps you're getting a little sentimental about the first few seasons and its clouding your memory. Have Angela or Dwight really ever been normal? Can you really characterize anything involving Michael Scott as realistic?

Last night's episode got me laughing on several occasions. Was it as good as some prior classic episodes? No. But it was still standard fare.

More to the point... is the Office winding down as a series? Yeah, probably. I've always thought that. I said to my wife this summer that the Office should find a way to end naturally this year and try to go out on top (e.g., follow Ricky Gervais's lead). Who knows. Afterwards maybe they could even transition the cast to a remake of the Extras.